The present invention relates to dental articulators, and, in particular, to a dental articulator which can be re-calibrated in the field.
Many different types of articulators are known in the art. They are used by dentists and dental laboratories to make dental prostheses on upper and lower casts of the patient's teeth that are in proper alignment, to make sure they will fit properly in the patient's mouth when they are in place. The dentist takes impressions of the patient's teeth and pours molds of the upper and lower arches using the impressions, and amounts the arches into the dentist's articulator, taking care to be sure the arches remain properly aligned. The dentist then sends those mounted arches to a dental laboratory to have the dental prosthesis, such as a bridge or set of false teeth made, and the dental laboratory uses the same type of articulator to be sure the prosthesis it makes will fit properly in the patient's mouth.
These articulators are carefully calibrated in the factory to be sure the castings will fit the same for every dentist and lab using the same type of articulator. If the articulator is dropped on the floor or otherwise jarred so as to put it out of alignment, the dentist or lab will send it back to the factory for recalibration. This means that there is a lag time during which the dentist or lab does not have the use of its articulator, and it means that there will be an expense involved in recalibrating the articulator. Some manufacturers of articulators have made products that can be recalibrated in the field, but they are either very difficult to use or do not have enough degrees of adjustment to ensure that they can be brought back into proper alignment.